Photo from Google Images
A sunny day and long blond hair blowing in the wind- it’s all fun and games until you lose control of the ride that ultimately gets you fired.
Was this an April Fools joke? Nope, it was just the ride of his life for the former University of Arkansas head football Coach Bobby Petrino. Most men who are 51 years-old would fantasize about escorting a beautiful 25 year-old blond on the back of his Harley. Shift gears and Petrino’s joy ride ended with four broken ribs, a cracked vertebra and more skid marks on his face than the pavement.
Jeff Long, the school’s athletics director said Tuesday that Petrino’s lack of candor about his “personal and professional relationship” with a female employee (Jessica Dorrell) who was riding with him on a motorcycle was the key to the decision to fire Petrino.
“Coach Petrino knowingly misled the athletic department and the university about the circumstances related to his accident,” Long said in a news conference at the university’s basketball arena in Fayetteville. Petrino had “multiple opportunities” over four days after the accident to be forthcoming, “he chose not to.”
Maybe Petrino was just trying to protect his wife Becky, his four children, and his mistress by misleading Long and the University about the investigation. If it was just a joy ride with a pretty girl who may have never been on a motorcycle and just wanted to go for a ride then no big deal. (Maybe some could find the age difference slightly awkward, but if this was his daughter, sister or even just a friend- all platonic relationships, this wouldn’t seem so creepy.)
The difference is that Petrino maintained an inappropriate relationship with Dorrell and according to Long the relationship with Dorrell had been for a “significant” amount of time and Petrino had given her $20,000. He would not disclose details of the payment, or when the money changed hands, but said both parties confirmed the “gift.” Kevin Trainor, a spokesman for Long, said the money came from Petrino, not university funds.
Petrino has held 15 jobs for 11 different programs/organizations in 24 seasons. Ding, Ding, RED FLAG Becky! If your husband has commitment issues on the field, he probably has them off the field. However, there’s no excuse for Petrino’s infidelity and his failure to disclose the truth.
I’m sure his ego from building a program in just four seasons that ranked in the top five college teams in the nation and coming off an 11-2 record with a Cotton Bowl victory could make any SEC coach feel like they were Tiger Woods or Jack Dawson. We all know how well it worked out for Tiger and Dawson was just a fictional character that went down with the ship.
NCAA violations are never ending, but ethics and moral violations can end everything.
How does Otha Peters feel now? He was a top inside linebacker recruit who decommitted from Tennessee to sign with Arkansas over concerns about the coaching stability of Derek Dooley after his losing records in his first two seasons. Great sales pitch Petrino- karma’s a bitch.